Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a lid opening/closing mechanism.
Description of the Related Art
A cup holder having been available heretofore conventionally to be installed within a vehicular passenger room is equipped with a body having an opening, and a lid opening and closing the opening. One of the cup holders is hereinafter described while taking such a cup holder as disclosed in Japanese Patent Gazette No. 4258175 (or Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (KOKAI) Gazette No. 2004-25967), for instance, as an example. In the cup holder disclosed in the gazette, a pinion 915 formed in a lid 94 is meshed with a rack 913 fixed to a body 93, as shown in FIG. 9. Moreover, a link arm 95 is supported rotatably at one of the opposite ends by a first swing shaft 911 formed in the body 93, and is connected at the other one of the opposite ends with a second swing shaft 912 formed in the lid 94. Accordingly, the pinion 915 of the lid 94 rotates along the rack 913, and simultaneously therewith the second swing shaft 912 of the lid 94 moves up and down as the link arm 95 swings. Consequently, it is possible to make smaller a swing locus of the lid 94 moving as the lid 94 opens and closes, because the second swing shaft 912 moves up and down.
In the cup holder disclosed in Japanese Patent Gazette No. 4258175 (or Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (KOKAI) Gazette No. 2004-25967), it is possible to urge the lid 94 in the opening direction in the following manner, for instance. As illustrated in FIG. 10, a torsion coil spring 96 is wound around the second swing shaft 912 of the lid 94. Then, the torsion coil spring 96 is locked to the lid 94 at one of the opposite ends 96a, and is further locked to the body 93 at the other one of the opposite ends 96b.
However, the torsion coil spring 96 thus assembled with the lid 94 exhibits a small opening angle or magnitude. Accordingly, the torsion coil spring 96 applies a weak initial torque to the lid 94 when the lid 94 is pushed up from the closed condition. Consequently, a plate spring is disposed adjacent to the top end of the body 93 to give an auxiliary or supplemental urging force to the lid 94 in the pushed-up direction. Therefore, it has been necessary to reinforce the initial torque that the torsion coil spring 96 produces.
Moreover, providing the lid 94 with a damper for easing or relieving the revolving speed of the lid 94 enables the lid 94 to open and close stably. However, the damper rotates only by a less number of revolutions because the lid rotates by a small rotational angle. Hence, it is difficult for the damper to move the lid 94 at an eased or relieved revolving speed.
However, the following patent literatures, for example, disclose cup holders provided with a damper for easing or relieving the opening and closing speeds of a lid: Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (KOKAI) Gazette No. 2010-247565, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (KOKAI) Gazette No. 2010-242794, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (KOKAI) Gazette No. 2009-249945, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (KOKAI) Gazette No. 2009-248793, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (KOKAI) Gazette No. 2007-2556, and Japanese Patent Gazette No. 3833925.